Total Quality
Management (TQM)
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Related Terms: ISO 9000; Quality Circles; Quality Control
Total Quality Management (TQM) refers to management methods used to enhance
quality and productivity in business organizations. TQM is a comprehensive management
approach that works horizontally across an organization, involving all departments and
employees and extending backward and forward to include both suppliers and
clients/customers.
TQM is only one of many acronyms used to label management systems that focus on
quality. Other acronyms include CQI (continuous quality improvement), SQC (statistical
quality control), QFD (quality function deployment), QIDW (quality in daily work), TQC
(total quality control), etc. Like many of these other systems, TQM provides a framework
for implementing effective quality and productivity initiatives that can increase the
profitability and competitiveness of organizations.
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Total quality management (TQM)
Total quality management is a management approach centred on quality, based on the
participation of an organisation's people and aiming at long term success (ISO
8402:1994). This is achieved through customer satisfaction and benefits all members of
the organisation and society.
In other words, TQM is a philosophy for managing an organisation in a way which
enables it to meet stakeholder needs and expectations efficiently and effectively, without
compromising ethical values.
TQM is a way of thinking about goals, organisations, processes and people to ensure that
the right things are done right first time. This thought process can change attitudes,
behaviour and hence results for the better.
What TQM is not
TQM is not a system, a tool or even a process. Systems, tools and processes are
employed to achieve the various principles of TQM.
What does TQM cover?
The total in TQM applies to the whole organisation. Therefore, unlike an ISO 9000
initiative which may be limited to the processes producing deliverable products, TQM
applies to every activity in the organisation. Also, unlike ISO 9000, TQM covers the soft
issues such as ethics, attitude and culture.
What is the TQM philosophy?
There are several ways of expressing this philosophy. There are also several gurus whose
influence on management thought in this area has been considerable, for example
Deming, Juran, Crosby, Feigenbaum, Ishikawa and Imai. The wisdom of these gurus has
been distilled into eight principles defined in ISO 9000:2000.
The principles of quality management:
There are eight principles of quality management:
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customer-focused organisation - organisations depend on their customers and
therefore should understand current and future customer needs, meet customer
requirements and strive to exceed customer expectations
leadership - leaders establish unity of purpose, direction and the internal
environment of the organisation. They create the environment in which people
can become fully involved in achieving the organisation's objectives
involvement of people - people at all levels are the essence of an organisation and
their full involvement enables their abilities to be used for the organisation's
benefit
process approach - a desired result is achieved more efficiently when related
resources and activities are managed as a process
system approach to management - identifying, understanding and managing a
system of interrelated processes for a given objective contributes to the
effectiveness and efficiency of the organisation
continual improvement - continual improvement is a permanent objective of an
organisation
factual approach to decision making - effective decisions are based on the logical
and intuitive analysis of data and information
mutually beneficial supplier relationships - mutually beneficial relationships
between the organisation and its suppliers enhance the ability of both
organisations to create value
How does TQM differ from the EQA model?
The European Quality Award model is used to assess business excellence. Business
excellence is the result of adopting a TQM philosophy and realigning the organisation
towards satisfying all stakeholders (customers, owners, shareholders, suppliers,
employees and society). The quality award criteria offers measures of performance rather
than a methodology.
Why should a company adopt TQM?
Adopting the TQM philosophy will:
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make an organisation more competitive
establish a new culture which will enable growth and longevity
provide a working environment in which everyone can succeed
reduce stress, waste and friction
build teams, partnerships and co-operation
When should a company adopt TQM?
TQM can be adopted at any time after executive management has seen the error of its
ways, opened its mind and embraced the philosophy. It cannot be attempted if
management perceives it as a quick fix, or a tool to improve worker performance.
How should a company adopt TQM?
Before TQM is even contemplated
TQM will force change in culture, processes and practice. These changes will be more
easily facilitated and sustained if there is a formal management system in place. Such a
system will provide many of the facts on which to base change and will also enable
changes to be implemented more systematically and permanently.
The first steps
In order to focus all efforts in any TQM initiative and to yield permanent benefits, a
company must answer some fundamental questions:
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what is its purpose as a business?
what is its vision for the business?
what is its mission?
what are the factors upon which achievement of its mission depends?
what are its values?
what are its objectives?
A good way to accomplish this is to take top management off site for a day or two for a
brainstorming session. Until management shares the same answers to these questions and
has communicated them to the workforce there can be no guarantee that the changes
made will propel the organisation in the right direction.
Methodology
There are a number of approaches to take towards adopting the TQM philosophy. The
teachings of Deming, Juran, Taguchi, Ishikawa, Imai, Oakland etc can all help an
organisation realign itself and embrace the TQM philosophy. However, there is no single
methodology, only a bundle of tools and techniques.
Examples of tools include:
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flowcharting
statistical process control (SPC)
Pareto analysis
cause and effect diagrams
employee and customer surveys
Examples of techniques include:
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benchmarking
cost of quality
quality function deployment
failure mode effects analysis
design of experiments
Measurements
After using the tools and techniques an organisation needs to establish the degree of
improvement. Any number of techniques can be used for this including self-assessment,
audits and SPC.
Pitfalls
TQM initiatives have been prone to failure because of common mistakes. These include:
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allowing external forces and events to drive a TQM initiative
an overwhelming desire for quality awards and certificates
organising and perceiving TQM activities as separate from day-to-day work
responsibilities
treating TQM as an add-on with little attention given to the required changes in
organisation and culture
senior management underestimating the necessary commitment to TQM
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v1.0.0.9
ORIGINS
TQM, in the form of statistical quality control, was invented by Walter A. Shewhart. It
was initially implemented at Western Electric Company, in the form developed by Joseph
Juran who had worked there with the method. TQM was demonstrated on a grand scale
by Japanese industry through the intervention of W. Edwards Deming—who, in
consequence, and thanks to his missionary labors in the U.S. and across the world, has
come to be viewed as the "father" of quality control, quality circles, and the quality
movement generally.
Walter Shewhart, then working at Bell Telephone Laboratories first devised a statistical
control chart in 1923; it is still named after him. He published his method in 1931 as
Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product. The method was first introduced
at Western Electric Company's Hawthorn plant in 1926. Joseph Juran was one of the
people trained in the technique. In 1928 he wrote a pamphlet entitled Statistical Methods
Applied to Manufacturing Problems. This pamphlet was later incorporated into the
AT&T Statistical Quality Control Handbook, still in print. In 1951 Juran published his
very influential Quality Control Handbook.
W. Edwards Deming, trained as a mathematician and statistician, went to Japan at the
behest of the U.S. State Department to help Japan in the preparation of the 1951 Japanese
Census. The Japanese were already aware of Shewhart's methods of statistical quality
control. They invited Deming to lecture on the subject. A series of lectures took place in
1950 under the auspices of the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE).
Deming had developed a critical view of production methods in the U.S. during the war,
particularly methods of quality control. Management and engineers controlled the
process; line workers played a small role. In his lectures on SQC Deming promoted his
own ideas along with the technique, namely a much greater involvement of the ordinary
worker in the quality process and the application of the new statistical tools. He found
Japanese executive receptive to his ideas. Japan began a process of implementing what
came to be known as TQM. They also invited Joseph Juran to lecture in 1954; Juran was
also enthusiastically received.
Japanese application of the method had significant and undeniable results manifesting as
dramatic increases in Japanese product quality—and Japanese success in exports. This
led to the spread of the quality movement across the world. In the late 1970s and 1980s,
U.S. producers scrambled to adopt quality and productivity techniques that might restore
their competitiveness. Deming's approach to quality control came to be recognized in the
United States, and Deming himself became a sought-after lecturer and author. Total
Quality Management, the phrase applied to quality initiatives proffered by Deming and
other management gurus, became a staple of American enterprise by the late 1980s. But
while the quality movement has continued to evolve beyond its beginnings, many of
Deming's particular emphases, particularly those associated with management principles
and employee relations, were not adopted in Deming's sense but continued as changing
fads, including, for example, the movement to "empower" employees and to make
"teams" central to all activities.
TQM PRINCIPLES
Different consultants and schools of thought emphasize different aspects of TQM as it
has developed over time. These aspects may be technical, operational, or
social/managerial.
The basic elements of TQM, as expounded by the American Society for Quality Control,
are 1) policy, planning, and administration; 2) product design and design change control;
3) control of purchased material; 4) production quality control; 5) user contact and field
performance; 6) corrective action; and 7) employee selection, training, and motivation.
The real root of the quality movement, the "invention" on which it really rests, is
statistical quality control. SQC is retained in TQM in the fourth element, above,
"production quality control." It may also be reflected in the third element, "control of
purchased material," because SQC may be imposed on vendors by contract.
In a nutshell, this core method requires that quality standards are first set by establishing
measurements for a particular item and thus defining what constitutes quality. The
measurements may be dimensions, chemical composition, reflectivity, etc.—in effect any
measurable feature of the object. Test runs are made to establish divergences from a base
measurement (up or down) which are still acceptable. This "band" of acceptable
outcomes is then recorded on one or several Shewhart charts. Quality control then begins
during the production process itself. Samples are continuously taken and immediately
measured, the measurements recorded on the chart(s). If measurements begin to fall
outside the band or show an undesirable trend (up or down), the process is stopped and
production discontinued until the causes of divergence are found and corrected. Thus
SQC, as distinct from TQM, is based on continuous sampling and measurement against a
standard and immediate corrective action if measurements deviate from an acceptable
range.
TQM is SQC—plus all the other elements. Deming saw all of the elements as vital in
achieving TQM. In his 1982 book, Out of the Crisis, he contended that companies needed
to create an overarching business environment that emphasized improvement of products
and services over short-term financial goals—a common strategy of Japanese business.
He argued that if management adhered to such a philosophy, various aspects of
business—ranging from training to system improvement to manager-worker
relationships—would become far healthier and, ultimately, more profitable. But while
Deming was contemptuous of companies that based their business decisions on numbers
that emphasized quantity over quality, he firmly believed that a well-conceived system of
statistical process control could be an invaluable TQM tool. Only through the use of
statistics, Deming argued, can managers know exactly what their problems are, learn how
to fix them, and gauge the company's progress in achieving quality and other
organizational objectives.
MAKING TQM WORK
In the modern context TQM is thought to require participative management; continuous
process improvement; and the utilization of teams. Participative management refers to the
intimate involvement of all members of a company in the management process, thus deemphasizing traditional top-down management methods. In other words, managers set
policies and make key decisions only with the input and guidance of the subordinates
who will have to implement and adhere to the directives. This technique improves upper
management's grasp of operations and, more importantly, is an important motivator for
workers who begin to feel like they have control and ownership of the process in which
they participate.
Continuous process improvement, the second characteristic, entails the recognition of
small, incremental gains toward the goal of total quality. Large gains are accomplished
by small, sustainable improvements over a long term. This concept necessitates a longterm approach by managers and the willingness to invest in the present for benefits that
manifest themselves in the future. A corollary of continuous improvement is that workers
and managers develop an appreciation for, and confidence in, TQM over a period of time.
Teamwork, the third necessary ingredient for TQM, involves the organization of crossfunctional teams within the company. This multidisciplinary team approach helps
workers to share knowledge, identify problems and opportunities, derive a
comprehensive understanding of their role in the overall process, and align their work
goals with those of the organization. The modern "team" was once the "quality circle," a
type of unit promoted by Deming. Quality circles are discussed elsewhere in this volume.
For best results TQM requires a long-term, cooperative, planned, holistic approach to
business, what some have dubbed a "market share" rather than a "profitability" approach.
Thus a company strives to control its market by gaining and holding market share
through continuous cost and quality improvements—and will shave profits to achieve
control. The profitability approach, on the other hand, emphasizes short-term stockholder
returns—and the higher the better. TQM thus suits Japanese corporate culture better than
American corporate culture. In the corporate environment of the U.S., the short-term is
very important; quarterly results are closely watched and impact the value of stocks; for
this reason financial incentives are used to achieve short term results and to reward
managers at all levels. Managers are therefore much more empowered than employees—
despite attempts to change the corporate culture. For these reasons, possibly, TQM has
undergone various changes in emphasis so that different implementations of it are
sometimes unrecognizable as the same thing. In fact, the quality movement in the U.S.
has moved on to other things: the lean corporation (based on just-in-time sourcing), Six
Sigma (a quality measure and related programs of achieving it), and other techniques.
PRACTICING TQM
As evident from all of the foregoing, TQM, while emphasizing "quality" in its name, is
really a philosophy of management. Quality and price are central in this philosophy
because they are seen as effective methods of gaining the customer's attention and
holding consumer loyalty. A somewhat discriminating public is thus part of the equation.
In an environment where only price matters and consumers meekly put up with the
successive removal of services or features in order to get products as cheaply as possible,
the strategy will be less successful. Not surprisingly, in the auto sector, where the
investment is large and failure can be very costly, the Japanese have made great gains in
market share; but trends in other sectors—in retailing, for instance, where labor is
imposed on customers through self-service stratagems—a quality orientation seems less
obviously rewarding.
For these reasons, the small business looking at an approach to business ideal for its own
environment may well adapt TQM if it can see that its clientele will reward this approach.
The technique can be applied in service and retail settings as readily as in manufacturing,
although measurement of quality will be achieved differently. TQM may, indeed, be a
good way for a small business, surrounded by "Big Box" outlets, to reach precisely that
small segment of the consuming public that, like the business itself, appreciates a high
level of service and high quality products delivered at the most reasonable prices
possible.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Basu, Ron, and J. Nevan Wright. Quality Beyond Six Sigma. Elsevier, 2003.
Deming, W. Edwards. Out of the Crisis. MIT Center for Advanced Engineering Study,
1982.
Juran, Joseph M. Architect of Quality. McGraw-Hill, 2004.
"The Life and Contributions of Joseph M. Juran." Carlson School of Management,
University of Minnesota. Available from http://parttimemba.csom.umn.edu/Page1275.aspx. Retrieved on 12 May 2006.
Montgomery, Douglas C. Introduction to Statistical Quality Control. John Wiley & Sons,
2004.
"Teachings." The W. Edwards Deming Institute. Available from
http://www.deming.org/theman/teachings02.html. Retrieved on 12 May 2005.
Youngless, Jay. "Total Quality Misconception." Quality in Manufacturing. January 2000.
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